Stargate Atlantis Canceled for Good DVD Sales
Gate World recently investigated the causes for Stargate Atlantis getting canceled and drew some interesting conclusions.
According to Wright, the three parties mutually decided to end Atlantis and make movies, and then launch Stargate Universe. This would allow the SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe “legs” of the franchise to continue to run together, hopefully far into the future.
Make of all that what you will. The short of it is that Stargate Atlantis was not cancelled due to low ratings — though as Wright recently hinted, significantly higher ratings would certainly have changed the discussion. Rather, when a studio like MGM has found such success in the DVD market (especially with last year’s SG-1 releases, The Ark of Truth and Continuum), the nature of what “cancellation” means has changed. With DVD movies now a major part of this franchise, Atlantis has in some ways been a “victim” of Stargate’s success.
I’m pleased to see that ratings was not the cause but was it wise to go about it the way they did? No!
Don’t upset the fans telling them that a show is being canceled.
Have the honor to just announce that it will no longer be shown through appointment TV but will continue through direct to movie DVD.
The causes come as no surprise to me. I’m saddened the studios demonstrated how they do not get the changes in how we are consuming our media. Yes, great DVD sales are wonderful, but a drop in TV ratings could be unrelated to a shows popularity.
Why not do both? Give us the show. Don’tblame the cancellation of Stargate Atlantis on the success of it’s DVD sales or SG1's.
